KR100816956B1 - Content use control device, content use control method, recording device, control device and recording method - Google Patents

Abstract

The aggregated content consisting of a plurality of partial contents holding license information including a use condition can be appropriately used in accordance with the use conditions included in the license information of each partial content. The content use control device includes input / output I / F, license generation means, output control means, content reproduction means, usage control means, and inputs partial content holding license information including usage conditions via input / output I / F. With respect to the aggregated content composed of the plurality of partial contents input, license information is assigned to each partial content, and the single license information in which the allocated license information is collectively outputted and the aggregated content are output to the recording medium. The content use control device reproduces the partial content included in the aggregated content recorded on the recording medium, and controls the use of the reproduced partial content according to the use condition.

Terms of Use, License Information, Partial Content, Aggregate Content, Light Protect

Description

Content usage control device, content usage control method, recording device, control device and recording method {CONTENT USE CONTROL DEVICE, CONTENT USE CONTROL METHOD, RECORDING DEVICE, CONTROL DEVICE AND RECORDING METHOD}

The present invention relates to a content use control device, a recording device, a playback device, a recording medium, and a content use control method, and more particularly, a content use control device, a recording device, a playback device, and a recording medium for controlling the use of various contents. , And a method of controlling the use of content, a recording device, and a system technology using the same, and in particular, a technique useful for a writing control method of a removable recording device in which content represented by video data and a license as its use condition are recorded. It is about.

In recent years, with the rapid development of networks such as the Internet, various contents such as music, images, videos, software (application programs) and the like (hereinafter referred to as contents) have been distributed through networks and digital broadcasting networks.

Among these, in order to avoid the illegal use of content, some cannot be used by a single body by content encryption. A user having a right has a license, decodes the content based on the information contained in the license, and makes the content available according to the use conditions included in the license.

Regarding the control of the use of content, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses a content use control device. This means that the use means in which identification information about a physical element constituting the use means itself is given to the content use control device that controls the use of the content provided to the user from the information providing authority, and the identification information given to the use means. And use control means for controlling the use of the content based on the permission information relating to the use of the content, wherein the permission information associated with the content is recorded on the recording medium. The use control means controls the use of the content based on the permission information and the identification information obtained from the recording medium. Here, when the use is permitted, the use means uses the content after acquiring the content from the recording medium.

Hereinafter, the relationship between the conventional content and the license disclosed in the Patent Document 1 will be described based on FIG. 32.

32 is a diagram for explaining the relationship between the conventional content and permission information (license information). The content 101 and permission information (hereinafter referred to as a license) 102 are stored in the MO medium in an associated state as shown in FIG. In the MO medium, the content 101 is divided into three in the state of content (1/3) 101 ₁ , content (2/3) 101 ₂ , and content (3/3) 101 ₃ . have. These contents (1/3) 101 ₁ , contents (2/3) 101 ₂ , and contents (3/3) 101 ₃ are LBN (Logical Block Number) = L, LBN = M and LBN = N are respectively stored in the designated area.

Similarly, in the MO medium, the license 102 is divided into two in the state of the license (1/2) 102 ₁ and the license (2/2) 102 ₂ . These licenses (1/2) 102 ₁ and licenses (2/2) 102 ₂ are stored in areas designated by LBN = X and LBN = Y, respectively. The content 101 and the license 102 are associated with each other via the file management data D _A1 and the auxiliary file management data D _A2 . The file management data D _A1 is data for managing the content 101 as a file main body and the license 102 as an auxiliary file. This file management data D _A1 includes "file name", "creation date and time",. "Link to auxiliary file management data", "Link to file body (1/3)", "Link to file body (2/3)", and "Link to file body (3/3)" It consists of information called. On the other hand, the auxiliary file management data D _A2 is data for directly managing the license 102, and includes "secondary file name", "create date and time",. And "link to license (1/2)" and "link to license (2/2)".

In addition, in digital broadcasting such as BS digital broadcasting, CS digital broadcasting, and terrestrial digital broadcasting, a TS (Transport Stream) obtained by multiplexing the MPEG-2 Elementary Stream (ES) is transmitted, and the conditions of use (copy control information, etc.) of each ES are transmitted. Is recorded in the stream. Therefore, the usage conditions of the stream which recorded the digital broadcast could not be known unless the stream was reproduced. In order to solve this problem, Patent Document 2 records the copyright information extracted from the stream so that it can be read even if it is not reproduced in association with the original stream. In the case of using the original stream, control is performed according to the recorded copyright information.

For example, Patent Document 3 discloses a technique relating to license control used in a data distribution system. That is, as the usage conditions included in the license, the reproduction control information for limiting the number of times of reproduction information (and thus the number of reproduction of the content) and the number of times that the reproduction control information can be duplicated (hence the content of the content) are restricted. Copy restriction information (which can limit the number of copies), and as the same information, move restriction information for limiting the number of movements is included.

On the other hand, since the content is important for the user, the technology of write protection for not erasing it is widely used. Although not specified in the literature, for example, write protection means (so-called write-protection hook) provided in the VHS video tape correspond to it.

The write protect means of the VHS videotape is designated by hardware, but there is a technique for specifying write protect by software.

For example, Patent Document 4 discloses a hard disk device incorporating write protect information for the entire hard disk device.

Fig. 33 is a block diagram showing the structure of a hard disk device incorporating conventional write protect information. In the drawing, reference numeral 110 is a hard disk, and the hard disk 110 is an interface circuit 111 and lead. The write channel 112, the write protect memory 113, and the head 114 are configured. The write protect information for the entire hard disk 110 is recorded in the write protect memory 113 and is referred to when a write request from the interface circuit 111 is received. When write protect is turned on, the write protection state is prevented. When the write protect is off, the write instruction is given to the head 114 via the read write channel 112, and the write operation is performed.

In addition, Patent Document 5 discloses a technique for setting / canceling the write protect for each content by setting / cancelling the state of the write protect for each area where the content is recorded.

Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-092721

Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-210411

Patent Document 3: International Publication No. WO01 / 043342

Patent Document 4: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-173158

Patent Document 5: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-288933

<Start of invention>

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

However, in Patent Document 1, only the same use conditions can be set for the entire content, and different use conditions cannot be set for each of the portions constituting the content. In Patent Document 2, the copyright information extracted from the stream of digital broadcasting is recorded. However, different usage conditions cannot be set for each ES constituting the stream or a group of components in which several ESs are grouped. .

In this way, in any of the above-mentioned Patent Documents 1 and 2, in the case where new content is produced by editing content having different use conditions, the original use corresponding to each part of the new content is used. The condition could not be assigned. For this reason, the process which assigns the strictest conditions of use to all said parts, etc. had no choice but to perform.

Further, as described in Patent Document 4, even when the write protect is set for the entire hard disk, even the license update is unconditionally prohibited. As a result, for example, when the reproducing permission number indicated by the reproducing license is finite, the reproducing itself is prohibited. This will be described based on FIG. 34 below.

34 is a flowchart for explaining reproduction control of content based on a conventional reproduction license. When the recording apparatus receives the reproduction instruction (step S101), the recording apparatus starts to acquire the reproduction license (step S102). Next, the information on the number of reproduction permission included in the reproduction license is referred to. If the number of reproductions is not unlimited at this time, it is necessary to reduce the number of remaining reproduction permits. For example, when the number of times of reproduction permission is one, it is necessary to change the number of times to write the reproduction license. However, when the write protect is set, the reproduction license cannot be written. That is, the reproduction license cannot be used. Therefore, it is determined whether or not the number of reproduction permission is unlimited (step S103), and if not unlimited (no), playback failure processing is performed (step S105). If the number of reproduction permission is unlimited in the step S103 (YES), the reproduction start process is performed (step S104). As described above, when the light protect is set, a situation may occur in which the content cannot be used even though the reproduction license is held.

In the same case as described above, a copy license and a mobile license also occur. In the case of a mobile license, the same thing happens even when the number of movement permits is unlimited. That is, in order to move the license, it is necessary to delete the license of the moving source. When the write protect is set, even if the moving is permitted in the license, the moving is not permitted.

Thus, for example, when a user loans a content and a recording device that records a license of the content to an acquaintance, if write protection is set in order to avoid erroneous erasure of the content, the reproduction license is limited when the number of reproduction permission is limited. Despite the possession, the content cannot be reproduced itself, and the initial purpose cannot be achieved. Similarly, even when a user loans an acquaintance to copy content from a recording device, when the number of times of copy permission is limited, the content itself cannot be copied even though the copy license is held, thereby achieving the initial purpose. Can not. Similarly, even when a user lends to a friend to move the content from the recording device, even if the user holds a license to move, the content itself cannot be moved, and thus the initial purpose cannot be achieved.

However, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, even if the light protection is set, if only the license renewal is allowed, the license may be used in a form not intended by the user, for example, when the user loans a recording device to an acquaintance. There is this. Specifically, it is assumed that it is used until the number of times of the reproduction permission of the reproduction license becomes zero, and the original user may not be able to use the content.

As described above, the light protection method described in Patent Document 4 has a problem in that it is not possible to set the content in the form desired by the user and the light protection to the license. More specifically, the license protection state of the license itself could not be set / cancelled by the number of the reproduction permission, the copy permission, and the move permission number in the license. The above problem also occurs when hardware write protection means (a so-called write preventing hook) of a VHS video tape is provided in hardware.

In addition, as described in Patent Document 3, the above-described method is used to set write protect for a recording device that records reproduction control information (reproduction license), reproduction restriction information (replication license), and movement restriction information (movement license). The same problem arises.

Similarly, as in Patent Literature 5, the same problem occurs when setting / release of write protection is recorded for each content. In other words, if the write protect is set to a finite number of times of reproduction permission, the content cannot be used even though the reproduction license is held.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and in the content use control device for controlling the use of the content provided to the user from various content providers, the license information includes a unique use condition. With respect to the aggregated content having a plurality of pieces of partial content, the license information is assigned to the partial content constituting the aggregated content, and the single license information is generated by collectively assigning the license information.

A recording apparatus for recording both or one of the generated license information and the aggregated content in accordance with the license information on a recording medium, and a recording medium in which both or both of the license information and the aggregated content in accordance with the license information are recorded. And a reproduction device for reproducing partial content included in the aggregated content recorded on the recording medium in accordance with the license information.

In addition, in a storage medium capable of recording a plurality of contents and a license including the conditions for using the contents, an object of the present invention is to make it possible to easily set the detailed and precise write protection conditions desired by the user for each content or license type. will be.

Means for solving the problem

The first technical means is a content use control device for controlling the use of content provided to a user from a provider of various contents, the provider of being able to provide partial content holding license information including unique use conditions. And license information is assigned to the partial content constituting the aggregated content with respect to the aggregated content composed of the input / output interface for connecting and the plurality of partial contents input through the input / output interface, and configured. It is characterized in that it comprises a license generating means for generating a single license information in a batch.

The second technical means is a first technical means, wherein the license generating means is a first content composed of a plurality of partial contents as a partial content, and a plurality of partial contents composed of the first collective content. With respect to the two sets of contents, each piece of license information is allocated to the first set of contents constituting the second set of contents, and the respective pieces of license information are collectively generated to generate single license information.

In the third technical means, in the first technical means, the license generating means assigns a unique content ID to the partial content included in the aggregated content, and according to each of the partial contents included in the aggregated content. The unique license ID is assigned to the license information.

The fourth description means is characterized in that the content ID and the license ID are associated with each other in the third description means.

The fifth technical means is, in the first technical means, the input / output interface includes any one or more of a recording medium on which partial content is recorded, a network including a server device capable of providing partial content, and a digital broadcasting network capable of distributing partial content. It is characterized in that the connection with the provider of the.

The sixth technical means includes, in the first technical means, external or internal recording means, both or one of the license information generated by the license generating means and the aggregated content via the recording means or the input / output interface. And output control means for outputting to a recording medium.

The seventh technical means is the sixth technical means, wherein the output control means is configured to record the license information generated by the license generating means and its aggregated content through the recording means or the input / output interface on a different recording area. It is characterized by output to.

The eighth technical means is, in the sixth technical means, a content reproducing means for decoding and reproducing partial content included in the recording medium or the aggregated content recorded in the recording means, and using the reproduced partial content for the license. It is characterized by including the use control means for controlling in accordance with the use conditions included in the information.

In a ninth technical means, in the first technical means, the aggregated content includes video data and / or audio data, and the partial content constituting the aggregated content divides the video data and / or audio data on a time axis. It is characterized in that.

The tenth technical means is that, in the first technical means, the aggregated content is a multiplex of partial content composed of any one or a plurality of video data, audio data, and data broadcasting data.

The eleventh technical means is the ninth or tenth technical means, wherein the partial content is an elementary stream (ES) of MPEG2.

In the twelfth technical means, in the ninth or tenth technical means, the partial content is any one or a plurality of streams of BS broadcast, CS broadcast, and terrestrial digital broadcast.

The thirteenth technical means is the twelfth technical means, wherein the partial content is an ES group belonging to one component group.

The 14th technical means is a 1st technical means WHEREIN: The usage conditions contained in the said license information are copy restriction information for restricting the copy of partial content, and age viewing restriction information for restricting viewing of partial content according to age. , One or more of usage limit information for limiting the number of times the partial content is used, and usage term information for limiting the usage time of the partial content.

The fifteenth technical means is that, in the first technical means, the aggregated content is a combination of partial contents composed of image data and / or document data.

In the sixteenth technical means, in the first or fifteenth technical means, the use conditions included in the license information include: copy restriction information for limiting the copy of the partial content, print restriction information for restricting the printing of the partial content, It includes one or more of the expiration date information for limiting the usage period of the partial content, the resolution limitation information for limiting the resolution conversion of the partial content, and the color number limitation information for limiting the number of colors of the partial content. I did it.

The seventeenth technical means is a recording apparatus for generating a recording medium which enables the use control of contents provided to a user from a source of various contents, the partial content holding license information including unique usage conditions. License information is assigned to the partial content constituting the aggregated content with respect to the aggregated content formed by collecting the input / output interface for connecting with a provider that can be provided and the plurality of partial contents input through the input / output interface, and the allocation thereof. License generating means for collectively generating each piece of license information to generate single license information, and output control means for outputting both or one of the generated license information and the aggregated content to the recording medium via the input / output interface; It is characterized by.

In the eighteenth technical means, in the seventeenth technical means, both or one of the license information and the aggregated content is recorded.

The nineteenth technical means includes content reproducing means for decoding and reproducing partial content included in the aggregated content recorded in the eighteenth technical means, and controlling the use of the reproduced partial content in accordance with the use condition included in the license information. It is characterized by including a utilization control means.

The twentieth technical means, in a content use control method of controlling use of content by using a content use control device for controlling use of content provided from a source of various contents to a user, sets a unique use condition. Each license information is assigned to a partial content constituting the aggregated content with respect to an input step of inputting partial content holding license information to be included through an input / output interface and the aggregated content formed by collecting the plurality of input partial contents. And a license generation step of collectively generating the respective license information with the assigned license information.

In the twentieth technical means, in the twentieth technical means, in the license generating step, a first set of content composed of a plurality of partial contents is a partial content, and a plurality of partial contents composed of the first set of contents are collected and configured. With respect to the two sets of contents, each piece of license information is allocated to the first set of contents constituting the second set of contents, and the respective pieces of license information are collectively generated to generate single license information.

The twenty-second technical means, in the twentieth technical means, assigns a unique content ID to the partial content included in the aggregated content in the license generation step, and according to each of the partial contents included in the aggregated content. The unique license ID is assigned to the license information.

The twenty-third technical means is characterized in that the content ID and the license ID are associated with each other in the twenty-second technical means.

The twenty-fourth technical means is one or more of the twentieth technical means in which the input / output interface is one or more of a recording medium on which partial content is recorded, a network including a server device capable of providing partial content, and a digital broadcasting network capable of distributing partial content. It is characterized in that the connection with the provider of the.

The twenty-fifth technical means includes, in the twentieth technical means, both or one of the license information generated in the license generation step and the aggregated content, the recording means or the input / output interface externally or embedded in the content use control device. And an output control step of outputting the recording medium to the recording medium.

The twenty-sixth technical means, in the twenty-fifth technical means, in the output control step, the license information generated in the license generation step and its aggregated content are stored in different recording areas of the recording medium through the recording means or the input / output interface. It is characterized by outputting.

The twenty-seventh technical means is a content reproducing step of decoding and reproducing partial content included in the recording medium or the aggregated content recorded in the recording means, and using the reproduced partial content in the twenty-fifth technical means. And a usage control step of controlling according to the usage conditions included in the information.

In a twenty-eighth technical means, in the twentieth technical means, the aggregated content includes video data and / or audio data, and the partial content constituting the aggregated content divides the video data and / or audio data on a time axis. It is characterized by.

The twenty-ninth technical means according to the twentieth technical means, wherein the aggregated content is a multiplex of partial content consisting of any one or a plurality of video data, audio data, and data broadcasting data.

In the thirtieth technical means, in the twenty-eighth or ninth technical means, the partial content is an elementary stream (ES) of MPEG2.

The thirty-first description means is that in the twenty-eighth or twenty-ninth description means, the partial content is any one or a plurality of streams of BS broadcast, CS broadcast, and terrestrial digital broadcast.

The thirty-second description means is that in the thirty-first description means, the partial content is an ES group belonging to one component group.

In the thirty-third technical means, in the twentieth technical means, the use conditions included in the license information include copy restriction information for restricting copying of partial content, and age viewing restriction information for restricting viewing of partial content according to age. , One or more of usage limit information for limiting the number of times the partial content is used, and usage term information for limiting the usage time of the partial content.

The thirty-fourth description means is that in the twentieth description means, the aggregated content is a composite of partial content composed of image data and / or document data.

In the thirty-fifth technical means, in the twentieth or thirty-fourth technical means, the use conditions included in the license information include: copy restriction information for limiting copying of partial content, print restriction information for limiting printing of partial content, It includes one or more of the expiration date information for limiting the usage period of the partial content, the resolution limitation information for limiting the resolution conversion of the partial content, and the color number limitation information for limiting the number of colors of the partial content. I did it.

The thirty-sixth technical means includes: a storage medium capable of recording a plurality of licenses including content and usage conditions of the content, a storage area having write protect information for controlling writing to the storage medium, and writing to the storage medium; And a reading unit for reading, an input / output interface for connecting to an external device, and a control unit for controlling the read / write unit in accordance with control information input through the input / output interface, wherein the control unit controls contents through the input / output interface. And / or write request control of the content and / or license in accordance with the write protect information with reference to the write protect information held in the storage area when a write request of the license is received.

The thirty-sixth technical means is the thirty-sixth technical means, wherein the write protect information includes content write protect setting / cancellation information and write protection setting / cancellation information for each type of license.

The thirty-eighth technical means is in the thirty-seventh technical means, wherein the write protect information includes any one or a plurality of license types of a reproduction license for limiting the number of times of reproduction, a copy license for limiting the number of times of reproduction, and a mobile license for limiting the number of movements. It is characterized by being provided correspondingly.

The thirty-third technical means is the thirty-eighth technical means wherein the write protect information includes a write protect state when the number of reproduction permits is one, a write protect state when the number of reproduction permits is other than one, and the copy permission number is one. One or more of the write protect state when the number of times, the write protect state when the copy permission number is other than one time, and the write protect state for movement can be specified.

A forty-fifth technical means is a thirty-sixth technical means, wherein said write protect information consists of mode information, and said control part performs write protect control based on the said mode information.

In the forty-first technical means, in the forty-th technical means, the write protect operation for each mode information is defined from the write protect setting / release information of the content and the write protect setting / release information for each type of license. will be.

The forty-eighth technical means is the thirty-sixth technical means wherein the recording apparatus refers to rewriting means for rewriting the write protection information recorded in the storage area, and the write protection information recorded in the storage area. It is characterized by including the reference means.

The 43rd technique means is a control apparatus for controlling a plurality of recording apparatuses as described in any one of 36th-42nd descriptions, WHEREIN: It does not set write-protect information about a specific recording apparatus.

The 44th technical means is a storage medium which can record a plurality of licenses containing content and usage conditions of a content, a storage area which holds write-protect information for controlling the writing to the storage medium, and reading to the storage medium. A recording apparatus of a recording apparatus comprising: a reading section for performing a reading; an input / output interface for connecting to an external device; and a control section for controlling the read / write section in accordance with control information input through the input / output interface. When a content and / or license write request is received through an input / output interface, the content and / or license is written and controlled according to the write protect information with reference to the write protect information held in the storage area. .

Effect of the Invention

According to the present invention, in a content use control apparatus for controlling use of content provided to a user from a source of various contents, the aggregated content comprising a plurality of partial contents holding license information including unique use conditions. With respect to this, since the respective license information can be assigned to the partial contents constituting the aggregated content, and the single license information can be collectively generated for each of the assigned license information, the contents can be obtained from the plurality of partial contents by the editing process of the content. When one set of contents is created, the partial contents can be used according to their use conditions. As a result, the individual partial contents can be appropriately used and controlled according to their use conditions, thereby preventing unauthorized use.

In addition, in order to identify the partial content, not only the content can be divided in the time direction but also in the ES or component group units, so that different license information can be assigned to the ES or component group in digital broadcasting or the like. have.

Further, even when new aggregated content is created with the aggregated content created from the partial content as the partial content, license information can be further created based on the license information created from the original license information. Thus, even when the content is edited, license information based on the license information of the original content can be assigned to each part of the edited content.

In addition, since it does not depend on the type of content or the contents of license information, it can use not only video data and audio data but the whole content managed by license information.

In addition, in a storage medium capable of recording a plurality of contents and a license including the conditions for using the contents, the user can easily set the detailed and detailed write protection conditions desired by the user for each content or license type. The use of the content can be controlled.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The block diagram for demonstrating the structural example of the content use control apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.

2 is a block diagram for explaining a configuration example of a content usage control device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a block diagram for explaining a configuration example of a content usage control device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a diagram for explaining a correspondence relationship between content and license information.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining an example of a content C12 and a license L12 corresponding to the content C12. FIG.

6 is a view for explaining a detailed example of the content management information CM12 and the license management information LM12.

7 is a flow chart for explaining an example of the use control process for the content C12 recorded in an external recording medium or the like.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining another example of the content C12 and the license L12 corresponding to the content C12. FIG.

9 is a diagram for explaining another example of the content C12 and the license L12 corresponding to the content C12.

10 is a diagram for explaining another example of the content C12 and the license L12 corresponding to the content C12.

11 is a diagram for explaining content C345 and license L34 corresponding to content C345.

12 is a diagram for explaining a detailed example of the content management information CM345 and license management information LM34.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart for explaining an example of a usage control process for content C345 recorded in an external recording medium or the like. FIG.

Fig. 14 is a diagram for explaining a content C67 and a license L67 corresponding to the content C67.

Fig. 15 is a diagram for explaining a detailed example of content management information CM67 and license management information LM67.

16 is a flowchart for explaining an example of a usage control process for content C67 recorded in an external recording medium or the like.

FIG. 17 is a diagram for explaining an example of license information including a use condition mainly used when handling video data and audio data. FIG.

18 is a diagram for explaining an example of a partial content specification format.

19 is a diagram for explaining an example of content information about a partial content composed of image data or sentence data.

20 is a diagram for explaining a content C1267 and a license L1267 corresponding to the content C1267.

21 is a diagram for explaining a detailed example of content management information CM1267 and license management information LM1267.

Fig. 22 is a diagram for explaining content C6789 in which content C67 and content C89 are multiplexed.

Fig. 23 is a diagram for explaining detailed examples of content management information CM6789 and license management information LM6789.

FIG. 24 is a diagram for explaining another embodiment when the content management information CM67 and CM89 are combined into one content management information CM6789. FIG.

25 is a diagram for explaining a detailed example of the content management information CM6789 'and the license management information LM6789'.

FIG. 26 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a removable hard disk according to one embodiment of the present invention; FIG.

27 is a flowchart for explaining an example of a process when a write command is received as a control signal from an external device;

FIG. 28 is a diagram for explaining an example of write protect information according to the eighth embodiment; FIG.

FIG. 29 is a flowchart for explaining an example of the write protect determination process in step S32 shown in FIG. 27; FIG.

30 is a view for explaining an example of a write protect operation defined for each mode;

FIG. 31 is a view showing the write protect operation defined for each mode using the method of expressing write protect information according to the first embodiment; FIG.

Fig. 32 is a diagram for explaining the relationship between conventional content and permission information (license information).

Fig. 33 is a block diagram showing the structure of a hard disk device incorporating conventional write protect information.

34 is a flowchart for explaining reproduction control of content based on a conventional reproduction license;

<Description of the code>

10: content use control device 11: control unit

12: recording means 13, 24: input / output interface (input / output I / F)

14: user I / F 15: display means

16: operation input means 17: recording medium

20: removable hard disk (recording device)

21: disk control unit 22: write protect information

23: disc read-write unit 110: hard disk

111: interface circuit (I / F circuit) 112: lead light channel

113: write protect memory 114: head

<The best form to perform invention>

EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Hereinafter, each embodiment of the content usage control apparatus, the recording apparatus, the reproduction | regeneration apparatus, the recording medium, and the content usage control method of this invention is demonstrated with reference to attached drawing. In addition, in all the drawings for demonstrating embodiment, the part which has the same function is attached | subjected with the same code | symbol, and the repeated description is abbreviate | omitted.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a content use control device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 10 denotes a content use control device, and the content use control device 10 includes: A control unit 11 for controlling the use of the content, an internal or external recording means 12 for recording the content or its license information, an input / output interface (input / output I / F) 13 for connecting with the content provider, A user interface (user I / F) 14 for receiving operation instructions from the operation input means 16 such as a remote controller, and the display means 15 such as a CRT or LCD via the user I / F 14. It is connected to.

The control part 11 consists of CPU and memory which are not shown in figure, In this memory, the input control means 11a, the license generation means 11b, the output control means 11c, the management information acquisition means 11d, and content The content use control program for controlling the use of the content constituted by the reproduction means 11c and the use control means 11f is loaded and executed. This content use control program is stored in the recording means 12 at the time of non-execution, is loaded into the memory from the recording means 12 at the time of execution, and the content use control process is executed in accordance with an instruction from the CPU.

Hereinafter, each said means is explained in full detail.

First, the input / output I / F 13 may be any of an external recording medium that records content, a server device that provides the content through a network, and a digital broadcasting network that provides the content through broadcast waves such as BS / CS broadcasting and terrestrial digital broadcasting. One or more connections can be made. The input / output I / F 13 has a network connection function for connecting to a network such as the Internet when connected to the server device, and is transmitted from a content provider when connected to the digital broadcast network. It is assumed that a tuner function for receiving digital broadcast waves is provided. In addition, the content use control device 10 may be connected to a digital broadcast receiver having a digital broadcast tuner function via the input / output I / F 13, in which case the tuner function becomes unnecessary.

In this way, the content use control device 10 of the present invention can be applied to all of the content managed by the license information, regardless of the type of the content, the source of the content, or the form of the content. Here, the license information includes a condition for using the content. As the condition for using the content, for example, copy restriction information for limiting the copy of the content, print restriction information for limiting the printing, expiration date information, and resolution Any one or more of resolution limit information for limiting the conversion, color number limit information for limiting the number of colors, and the like are included. In addition, it is assumed that the license information is set individually for the content.

In the content use control device 10 shown in FIG. 1, the input control means 11a receives the operation information input from the operation input means 16 via the user I / F 14, and the operation information. In accordance with this, the partial content holding the license information is obtained from any one or a plurality of external recording media, server apparatuses, and digital broadcasting networks connected to the input / output I / F 13.

As this partial content, the content C1 which is video data of 30 minutes of reproduction time, and the content C2 which is video data of 30 minutes of reproduction time are similarly assumed. It is assumed that these partial contents each hold license information (use conditions) in advance.

The license generating means 11b sets the content C1 and the content C2 as one content C12, and assigns the license information (license L1, license L2) to the content C1 and the content C2, which are the partial content, to the content C12. Then, the assigned license information is collectively generated to generate a single license information (license L12). Therefore, the license information (license L12) of the content C12 is composed of the license information (license L1, license L2) of each of the content C1 and the content C2, and can be treated as single license information. Further, the partial content (content C1, content C2) is associated with the license L1 and the license L2 according to each.

The output control means 11c outputs and records the content C12 generated by the license generation means 11b and both or one of the license L12 to the recording medium 17 or the recording means 12. In addition, since the content C12 and the license L12 are associated with each other, the content C12 and the license L12 can be recorded independently in a separate recording area.

Here, the recording medium 17 includes CD-ROM (R / RW), magneto-optical disk, DVD-ROM (R / RW), FD, HD, memory card, flash memory, and various other ROMs and LYMs. It shall be.

Next, a process of reproducing the desired content in accordance with the use condition from the recording medium 17 or the recording means 12 in which both or one of the content C12 and the license L12 are recorded as described above will be described. The recording medium 17 may be recorded by a device other than the content use control device 10.

By the above-described license generation processing and recording processing, the recording medium 17 is recorded with the management information added to the content C12 and its license L12. The content management information for managing the content includes, for example, a designated format (for example, time) of the partial content, the number of partial contents, identification information for each partial content, and the like. For example, the designation format (for example, time) of the corresponding partial content, the number of licenses, the license of the partial content, and the like are included.

The management information acquisition means 11d acquires the content management information and the license management information from the recording medium 17, and performs correspondence between the partial content to be used and the license information based on the acquired content management information and license management information. The content reproducing means 11c reproduces the corresponding partial content based on the decoding information included in the license information. The use control means 11f controls the use of the partial content reproduced by the content reproduction means 11c according to the use condition included in the corresponding license information.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a content usage control device according to another embodiment of the present invention. The content usage control device 10 according to the present embodiment relates to the aggregated content composed of a plurality of partial contents. The control unit 11 includes an input control unit 11a, a license generation unit 11b, and an output control unit 11c for executing license generation processing and recording processing of generated license information and the aggregated content. It functions as a recording apparatus for recording both or either of the aggregated content generated by the generating means 11b and its license information on the recording medium 17 or the recording means 12.

In addition, the content use control device 10 of the present embodiment can newly set the license information including the use conditions for the content which the user has created or has no use restriction obtained from an arbitrary content provider. have. In this case, the content of which the license information is newly set may be used as partial content, and the license information of each partial content may be collectively generated to generate a single license information for the aggregated content formed by collecting these partial contents.

3 is a block diagram for explaining a configuration example of a content use control device according to another embodiment of the present invention, and the content use control device 10 of the present embodiment is provided to the recording medium or the recording means 12. Management information acquiring means 11d, content reproducing means 11c, and usage control means 11f for executing the reproduction processing of the partial content included in the recorded aggregated content and the use control process according to the use condition of the reproduced partial content. Is provided in the control unit 11, the content reproduction means 11c reproduces the partial content to be used, and the usage control means 11f reproduces and uses the reproduced partial content individually according to its use condition. Function as a device.

Hereinafter, each embodiment of the content usage control method executed using the content usage control device 10 shown in FIG. 1 will be described based on FIGS. 4 to 25.

(Embodiment 1)

Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 to 10. In Embodiment 1, the following processes are implemented.

The process of allocating license information every time as the content is video data.

A process of generating license information for new content created by editing the content.

4 is a diagram for explaining a correspondence relationship between content and license information, and content C1 and content C2 each have usage conditions. The use condition for the content C1 is recorded in the license L1, and the use condition for the content C2 is recorded in the license L2.

The content is preferably encrypted in order to prevent unauthorized use by a single person. Therefore, necessary decoding information is also recorded in license information. Since this embodiment does not depend on the encryption method and the decryption information, detailed description thereof is omitted here. In addition, since the license information can be freely referenced or changed by the user, it leads to illegal use of the content. Therefore, it is preferable to record the license information in a secure area that cannot be referred to or changed by the user or the application. Hereinafter, although no special clue is given, it is assumed that the license information is recorded in the secure area.

In this embodiment, the content is video data. The content C1 and the content C2 each have a single use condition with a reproduction time of 30 minutes. Here, the use condition is the use period of the content C1 and the content C2.

Hereinafter, the usage control method of the 60-minute content C12 which added the content C2 to the end of the content C1 is demonstrated. In the present embodiment, the content C1 and the content C2 become partial content of the content C12.

5 is a diagram for explaining an example of the content C12 and the license L12 corresponding to the content C12. The content C12 is comprised of the content C1, the content C2, and the content management information CM12, and the license L12 is comprised of the license L1, the license L2, and the license management information LM12. In addition, the generation process of these contents C12 and license L12 is performed by license generation means 11b.

6 is a diagram for explaining a detailed example of the content management information CM12 and the license management information LM12. The content management information CM12 is composed of, for example, a partial content designation format, a number of partial contents, identification information of partial content (in this embodiment, identification information of the content C1 and identification information of the content C2).

In the present embodiment, since the partial content is added in the time direction, "time" is recorded in the partial content designation format. In addition, the number of partial contents is recorded as two (content C1, content C2). On the content C12, where is the first partial content is recorded as the identification information of the content C1. Here, information indicating "from the head 0 minutes to the head 30 minutes" in the content C12 is recorded. In addition, it is recorded as identification information of the content C2 which is the 2nd partial content. Here, information indicating "from the head 30 minutes to the head 60 minutes" in the content C12 is recorded.

Similarly, the license management information LM12 is composed of, for example, the partial content designation format, the number of licenses, and the license of the partial content (in this embodiment, the license L1 of the content C1 and the license L2 of the content C2). The license L1 and the license L2 record the substance of the license information (license information itself) or a link to the license information. In this embodiment, the substance of license information shall be recorded.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining an example of the usage control process for the content C12 recorded on an external recording medium or the like. First, the management information acquisition means 11d acquires the content management information CM12 included in the content C12 (step S1), and acquires the partial content designation format (time in this embodiment) contained therein (step S2). The number of partial contents is acquired (step S3). Next, with reference to the identification information of the partial content, the section to be used belongs to which partial content is found (step S4).

Next, the management information acquisition means 11d acquires the license management information LM12 (step S5), and acquires the license information of the corresponding partial content therefrom (step S6). Here, based on the information of which part content is the content management information CM12, the license information of the same order in license management information LM12 is matched, and the said partial content and license information are corresponded.

Next, the content reproducing means 11c decodes and reproduces the content on the basis of the decoding information included in the acquired license information (step S7), and the use control means 11f is adapted to the usage conditions contained in the license information. On the basis of this, use control of the reproduced content is performed (step S8).

8 is a diagram for explaining another example of the content C12 and the license L12 corresponding to the content C12. In the present embodiment, the content C12 holds the substance of the content C1 or the content C2, but as shown in Fig. 8, a link to the content may be used without retaining the substance of the content. As the link information, for example, a file name, a logical address on a recording medium, or the like can be used.

9 is a diagram for explaining another example of the content C12 and the license L12 corresponding to the content C12. In the present embodiment, the content C12 is composed of the contents C1 and C2, which are partial contents, respectively, but as shown in FIG. 9, the contents C1 and C2 can also be used. That is, when the latter 15 minutes of the content C2 is added to the first 15 minutes of the content C1, and 30 minutes of content is created, the identification information of the content C1 includes "first 0 minutes to the first 15 minutes" in the content C12. As the identification information of the content C2, information indicating "first 15 minutes to the first 30 minutes" in the content C12 is recorded. The configuration of the license information is the same as in the case of using the entire contents.

10 is a diagram for explaining another example of the content C12 and the license L12 corresponding to the content C12. In this example, as shown in Fig. 10, a link to the content C1 and the content C2 can also be used without cutting off the content C1 and the content C2. In addition, the identification information of the content C1 and the content C2 is the same as when using the content substance instead of the link.

As mentioned above, the method of referencing the content with respect to the content C12 can be arbitrarily combined with each of the above-described methods shown in Figs. 5, 8, 9, and 10 and applied to any number of contents. In that case, the content C12 holds information indicating which one of the entity (main body) of the partial content, the link to the entity, the entity of the part, and the link to the entity of the part is referenced. Also, the storage format of this information is not asked.

In addition, when creating new content from the partial content, the data format may be converted (however, conversion of the data format may be prohibited depending on the usage conditions). For example, if the partial content is audio data and the original data format is AAC, it may be converted to MP3, the bit rate of the audio data is reduced, or the video data is re-encoded. This data format conversion process is assumed to be executed by the license generation means 11b.

In this manner, for the aggregated content composed of a plurality of partial contents, license information holding the use condition can be assigned to individual partial contents, and the assigned license information can be collectively treated as a single license information. Therefore, the individual partial contents can be appropriately used and controlled according to the usage conditions thereof, thereby preventing unauthorized use.

(Embodiment 2)

Embodiment 2 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 11 to 13. In Embodiment 2, the following processes are implemented.

A process of giving a content ID for reference to the content.

A process of giving a license ID for reference to license information.

In the present embodiment, the content C3, the content C4, and the content C5 each have usage conditions. The use condition for the content C3 is recorded in the license L3, the use condition for the content C4 is recorded in the license L4, and the use condition for the content C5 is recorded in the license L3, respectively. In addition, the content C3 and the content C5 have the same conditions of use, and use the common license L3.

Here, each content is assigned ID_C3, ID_C4, ID_C5 as the content ID, and ID_L3 and ID_L4 as the license ID. The content ID and license ID are for identifying the content or the license. Since the system is not related to the present invention, the description thereof is omitted.

The content of this embodiment is assumed to be video data, for example. The content C3, the content C4, and the content C5 each have a single use condition with a reproduction time of 60 minutes. The usage condition here is the expiration date of the content C3, the content C4, and the content C5. A usage control method of the 180-minute content C345 in which the content C4 is added at the end of the content C3 and the content C5 is further added is described below. Content C3, content C4, and content C5 become partial content of content C345.

11 is a diagram for explaining the content C345 and the license L34 corresponding to the content C345. Content C345 is composed of content C3, content C4, content C5, and content management information CM345, and license L34 is comprised of license L3, license L4, and license management information LM34. In addition, the generation process of these contents C345 and license L34 is performed by license generation means 11b.

12 is a diagram for explaining a detailed example of the content management information CM345 and the license management information LM34. The content management information CM345 is composed of a partial content designation format, a partial content number, and identification information of the partial content (in this embodiment, identification information of the content C3, identification information of the content C4, and identification information of the content C5).

In the present embodiment, since the partial content is added in the time direction, "time" is recorded in the partial content designation format of the content management information CM345. In addition, the number of partial contents is recorded as 3 (content C3, content C4, content C5). In addition, the arrangement order of the partial content on the content C345 is recorded by the content ID. In this embodiment, ID_C3, ID_C4, and ID_C5 are set.

For each partial content, partial content identification information and license information to be referred to are recorded. In this embodiment, information indicating "from the head 0 minutes to the head 60 minutes" in the content C345 is recorded for the partial content C3 (content ID_C3). Similarly, for the partial content C4 (content ID_C4), the information indicating "first 60 minutes to the top 120 minutes" in the content C345 is the same as for the partial content C5 (content ID_C5) in the content C345 "from the first 120 minutes to the first 180 minutes". Information indicating "is recorded. In addition, in the content C345, each partial content may be any of the substance of the partial content, the link to the partial content, the substance of the portion of the partial content, and the link to the portion of the partial content, as described in the first embodiment. .

The license management information LM34 included in the license L34 will be described below. In the present embodiment, the license L34 holds license information of the content C345, but it is irrelevant how the content C345 is created from the partial content. Therefore, the partial content specification format is not included in the license management information LM34. The license management information LM34 includes a license number (2 in this embodiment), a license ID (ID_L3, ID_L4 in this embodiment), and a license for each license ID (as described in the first embodiment). May be an entity or a link).

In addition, as in the present embodiment, the content ID of the reference source may be recorded for each license ID as to which license content each license is. By recording the content ID of the reference source, it is possible to easily edit the content and easily identify the licenses that have not been referenced, such as when the specific partial content contained in the original content is lost. Processing becomes easy.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart for explaining an example of the usage control process for the content C345 recorded on an external recording medium or the like. First, the management information acquisition means 11d acquires the content management information CM345 included in the content C345 (step S11), and acquires the partial content designation format (time in this embodiment) included therein (step S12). Then, the number of partial contents is acquired (step S13). Next, with reference to the identification information of the partial content, it searches for which partial content the section to be used belongs to (step S14), and acquires the license ID of the license information to be referred to (step S15).

Next, the management information acquiring means 11d acquires the license management information LM34 (step S16), and acquires the license information of the corresponding partial content based on the license ID acquired in the step S15 (step S17).

Next, the content reproducing means 11c decodes and reproduces the content on the basis of the decoding information included in the acquired license information (step S18), and the use control means 11f is adapted to the usage conditions included in the license information. On the basis of this, use control of the reproduced content is performed (step S19).

In this manner, for the aggregated content composed of a plurality of partial contents, license information holding the use condition can be assigned to individual partial contents, and the assigned license information can be collectively treated as a single license information. Therefore, the individual partial contents can be appropriately used and controlled according to the usage conditions thereof, thereby preventing unauthorized use. In addition, since the content and the license information are managed by the ID, the same license information is assigned to the plurality of partial contents or the license management at the time of deleting the contents becomes easy.

(Embodiment 3)

Embodiment 3 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 14 to 16. In Embodiment 3, the following processing is implemented.

Processing to compose content into multiplexed video data.

In this embodiment, the structure of the content which multiplexed these using video data, audio | voice data, data of data broadcasting, etc. as a partial content is demonstrated. More specifically, for example, video data, audio data, data broadcast data, and the like are MPEG-2 ES (Elementary Stream), and the content is a multiplexed TS (Transport Stream). Will be explained.

Here, the content C6 and the content C7 each have usage conditions. The usage conditions for the content C6 are recorded in the license L6, and the usage conditions for the content C7 are recorded in the license L7. Each content is assigned ID_C6 and ID_C7 as content ID and ID_L6 and ID_L7 as license ID. Positioning and usage of the content ID and license ID are the same as those in the second embodiment.

The content C6 and the content C7 are video data having a reproduction time of 30 minutes, and the contents are correlated with each other. For example, the content C6 is relay of sports, the content C7 is relay of cheering seats of the same sport. In addition, the use condition shall be the reproduction of the content C6 and the content C7. Here, the usage control method of the content C67 which multiplexed the content C6 and the content C7 is demonstrated.

Content C6 and content C7 become partial content of content C67. When the content C67 is being played back, the content C6 and the content C7 can be switched and used based on a request from the user. At this time, the license information corresponding to the content is used. It will be described in detail below.

14 is a diagram for explaining the contents C67 and the license L67 corresponding to the contents C67. The content C67 consists of the content C6, the content C7, and the content management information CM67, and the license L67 consists of a license L6, the license L7, and the content management information LM67. In addition, the generation process of these contents C67 and license L67 is performed by license generation means 11b.

15 is a diagram for explaining a detailed example of the content management information CM67 and the license management information LM67. The content management information CM67 is composed of the partial content designation format, the number of partial contents, and identification information of the partial contents (in this embodiment, identification information of the content C6 and identification information of the content C7).

Here, since the partial content is multiplexed, "PID (Packet Identification)" is recorded in the partial content designation format of the content management information CM67. The number of partial contents is 2 (content C6, content C7) and ID_C6 and ID_C7 of the partial content are recorded. For each partial content, partial content identification information and a license to be referred to are recorded. In the present embodiment, the information PID_C6 identifying the PID of the content C6 is recorded for the partial content C6 (content ID_C6). Similarly, for the partial content C7 (content ID_C7), information PID_C7 identifying the PID of the content C7 is recorded.

The license management information LM67 contained in the license L67 will be described.

In the present embodiment, the license L67 holds license information of the content C67, but it is irrelevant how the content C67 is created from the partial content. Therefore, the partial content designation format is not included in the license management information LM67. The license management information LM67 has a number of licenses (two in this embodiment), a license ID (ID_L6, ID_L7 in this embodiment) and a license for each license ID (as shown in the first embodiment) referenced from the content management information CM67. Similarly, the license information may be an entity or a link). In addition, as in the present embodiment, the content ID of the reference source may be recorded for each license ID, which license is each license.

16 is a flowchart for explaining an example of the usage control process for the content C67 recorded in an external recording medium or the like. First, the management information acquisition means 11d acquires the content management information CM67 included in the content C67 (step S21), obtains the partial content designation format (PID in this embodiment) (step S22), and the number of partial contents. Is obtained (step S23). Next, with reference to the identification information of the partial content, it searches for which partial content the section to be used belongs to (step S24), and acquires the license ID of the license information to be referred to (step S25).

Next, the management information obtaining means 11d acquires the license management information LM67 (step S26), and acquires the license information of the corresponding partial content based on the license ID acquired in the step S25 (step S27).

Next, the content reproducing means 11c decodes and reproduces the content on the basis of the decoding information included in the acquired license information (step S28), and the use control means 11f responds to the use condition contained in the license information. On the basis of this, use control of the reproduced content is performed (step S29).

In this manner, for the aggregated content composed of a plurality of partial contents, license information holding the use condition can be assigned to individual partial contents, and the assigned license information can be collectively treated as a single license information. Therefore, the individual partial contents can be appropriately used and controlled according to the usage conditions thereof, thereby preventing unauthorized use. In addition, since the content and the license information are managed by the ID, the same license information is assigned to the plurality of partial contents or the license management at the time of deleting the contents becomes easy.

In the present embodiment, the reproduction time of the contents C6 and the contents C7 is the same, but it is not necessary. In this case, the reproduction time of the content is recorded in the content management information CM67 or the management information (not shown) of the content C6 or the content C7, and is referred to at the time of reproduction, and if there is no content, the reproduction processing is performed. Similarly, the content C6 and the content C7 are multiplexed at the head of the content C67, but the reproduction start position may be separately. In this case, the information on the multiplexing situation of the partial content is recorded in the content management information CM67 and is referred to at the time of reproduction.

(Embodiment 4)

Embodiment 4 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 17 and 18. In Embodiment 4, the following processing is implemented.

In the third embodiment, a process of constituting video data obtained by multiplexing content with content of digital broadcasting.

The processing condition is one or more of copy control information, age viewing restriction, and usage count limitation.

In the third embodiment, the license information and partial content designation format when the stream of BS / CS / terrestrial digital broadcasting is content will be described below.

17 is a diagram for explaining an example of license information including a use condition mainly used when handling video data and audio data. As a license, the use conditions shown in FIG. 17 are used individually or in combination. Hereinafter, each use condition is demonstrated individually.

First, copy control information is information regarding whether to copy a content. In digital broadcasting, CGMS (Copy Generation Management System), macrovision, and the like are used. The content is used in accordance with the information of the designated CGMS or macrovision. In the CGMS, there are states of "No copy", "One generation can copy", and "Without constraint". In the case of &quot; copy prohibition, &quot; it is impossible to copy an entity when the content is partial content. Only link is part content. In addition, when copying an entity when "only one generation is copyable", it is necessary to change a use condition to "copy ban". When "copying without restriction" is possible, copying is possible without any limitation. In the macrovision information, the copy control signal according to the information is multiplexed into an output signal. As described above, when creating license information for new content, the contents of the license information are changed as necessary.

In addition, the age viewing restriction restricts the use of the content by the age set in the device. In addition, the number of times of use does not have a corresponding use limit in digital broadcasting, but limits the number of times of playing the content. Regarding the use period, both or one of the available start date and the available end date and time are specified, and the usage within the section is enabled. Regarding the use area, the content is available only when the conditions of the area set in the device match.

18 is a diagram for explaining an example of a partial content designation format. Examples of the format for specifying partial content include "time", "PID", "component group", and the like. This "time" means designation in the reproduction time from the beginning of the new content as described in the above-described first and second embodiments. In addition, "PID" can directly designate the ES for the stream of MPEG2. In addition, in the "component group", one or more ESs are formed by attaching a number called a component tag to elements constituting a digital broadcast program such as video, audio, text, and various data.

With the above configuration, it is possible to inherit the use condition of the content in the BS / CS / terrestrial digital broadcasting as the use condition of each part of the new content having the content as the partial content. In addition to the present embodiment, arbitrary license information and partial content specification format can be designated.

(Embodiment 5)

Embodiment 5 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 19. In Embodiment 5, the following processing is implemented.

-The partial content is comprised of image data and document data, and a process of setting an expiration date in terms of use.

Processing for setting copy restriction information and / or printing availability in the use conditions.

In the above embodiments, the partial content has been video data, audio data, and data broadcasting data. In the present embodiment, an example in which image data and document data are partial contents will be described below.

FIG. 19 is a diagram for explaining an example of content information about partial content composed of image data and sentence data. For example, the use conditions may be set for contents made up of image data such as photographs and document data such as news releases. At this time, the license information required includes copy control (here, copy or not of data), printing or not, resolution (whether or not to allow resolution conversion), color number (whether or not the number of colors is allowed to be dropped), There is a deadline.

By setting the license information in this way, when one collection document including still images and documents is created by combining contents such as still images and documents with use conditions, the still images and sentences included in the collected documents are included. A single license information can be created with additional terms of use. In addition, even when a new collection document is created by combining a plurality of collection documents, a single license information can be used to give the entire collection document, a still image constituting the collection document, and a usage condition based on the original usage conditions.

(Embodiment 6)

A sixth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 20 and 21. In Embodiment 6, the following processing is implemented.

A process of forming license information into a box.

In the present embodiment, a content C1267 in which the content C12 of the first embodiment and the content C67 of the third embodiment is used as a partial content in a method of limiting the use of the aggregated content in which a plurality of pieces of the combined content created by combining partial content are further combined. An example will be described below. In addition, the content C12 holds a license L12, the content C67 holds a license L67, and the content C1267 holds a license L1267.

20 is a view for explaining the license L1267 corresponding to the content C1267 and the content C1267. The content C1267 is basically composed of the content C12, the content C67, and the content management information CM1267. The license L1267 is basically composed of a license L12, a license L67, and a license management information LM1267. The generation processing of these contents C1267 and license L1267 is executed by license generation means 11b.

21 is a view for explaining a detailed example of the content management information CM1267 and license management information LM1267. The content management information CM1267 is composed of the partial content designation format, the number of partial contents, and identification information of the partial contents (in this embodiment, identification information of the content C12 and identification information of the content C67).

In the present embodiment, since the partial content is added in the time direction, "time" is recorded in the partial content designation format. In addition, the number of partial contents is recorded as two (content C12, content C67). On the content C1267, where is the first partial content is recorded as identification information of the content C12. Here, information indicating "from the head 0 minutes to the head 60 minutes" in the content C1267 is recorded. In addition, it is recorded as identification information of the content C67 where it is 2nd partial content. Here, information indicating "from the head 60 minutes to the head 90 minutes" in the content C1267 is recorded.

Similarly, the license management information LM1267 is composed of the partial content designation format, the number of licenses, and the license information of the partial content (in this embodiment, the license L12 of the content C12 and the license L67 of the content C67). The license L12 and the license L67 record the substance of the license information or a link to the license information. In this embodiment, the substance of license information shall be recorded.

When using the content, it is necessary to obtain the management information and determine which partial content is finally used, but the use control method is the same as the processing in the first embodiment shown in FIG. Will be omitted.

Also in the present embodiment, as described in the first embodiment, the content may be any of an entirety of the partial content, a link to the entirety of the partial content, an actuality of the portion of the partial content, and a link to the portion of the partial content. By doing in this way, the use of the aggregated content which combined more than one aggregated content created by combining partial content can be appropriately controlled. In addition, the process of generating the aggregated content and the license by combining a plurality of the aggregated content created by combining the partial contents may be performed any number of times as long as the license is not prohibited.

(Embodiment 7)

A seventh embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 22 to 25. In the seventh embodiment, another embodiment of the usage control method for the aggregated content obtained by combining a plurality of the aggregated content created by combining partial content will be described.

22 is a diagram for explaining a content C6789 in which the content C67 and the content C89 are multiplexed. The content C6789 is basically composed of the content C67 (the content C6 and the content C7 are not entities, refer to the link) in the third embodiment, the content C89, and the content management information CM6789. The content C89 is composed of the content C8, the content C9, and the content management information CM89, similarly to the content C67 composed of the content C6, the content C7, and the content management information CM67. The license information of the content C8 and the content C9 has the same structure as that of the content C6 and the content C7.

Although not shown, the license L6789 is basically composed of the license L67, the license L89, and the license management information LM6789. In addition, like the license L67, the license L89 is comprised by the license L8, the license L9, and the license management information LM89. In addition, the generation process of these contents C6789 and license L6789 is performed by license generation means 11b.

23 is a diagram for explaining a detailed example of the content management information CM6789 and the license management information LM6789. The content management information CM6789 consists of a partial content designation format, the number of partial contents, and identification information of the partial contents (in this embodiment, identification information of the content C67 and identification information of the content C89).

In the present embodiment, since the partial content is multiplexed, "PID" is recorded in the partial content designation format of the content management information CM6789. The number of partial contents is 2 (content C67, content C89), and ID_C67 and ID_C89 of the partial content are recorded.

For each partial content, partial content identification information and a license to be referred to are recorded. In the present embodiment, the information PID_C67 for identifying the PID of the content C67 is recorded for the partial content C67 (content ID_C67). Similarly, for the partial content C89 (content ID_C89), information PID_C89 for identifying the PID of the content C89 is recorded. Here, PID_C67 and PID_C89 do not specify a single PID, but can specify a plurality of PIDs that constitute respective partial contents included in each of contents C67 and C89.

The license management information LM6789 contained in the license L6789 will be described below.

In the present embodiment, the license L6789 holds license information of the content C6789, but it is irrelevant how the content C6789 is created from the partial content. Therefore, the partial content designation format is not included in the license management information LM6789. The license management information LM6789 has a number of licenses (two in this embodiment), a license ID (ID_L67, ID_L89 in this embodiment) and license information for each license ID (referred to in Embodiment 1) referred to from the content management information CM6789. Similarly, it may be an entity or a link). In addition, as in the present embodiment, the content ID of the reference source may be recorded for each license ID, which license information is for which partial content.

By configuring as described above, it is possible to appropriately control the use of the aggregated content obtained by combining the partial contents in combination with multiplexing.

The content C6789 holds three pieces of content management information, CM67, CM89, and CM6789. However, the content C6789 can be configured to integrate the content management information CM67 and CM89 into one content management information CM6789.

FIG. 24 is a diagram for explaining another embodiment when the content management information CM67 and CM89 are combined into one content management information CM6789. The content C6789 'in this case is composed of the content C6, the content C7, the content C8, the content C9, and the content management information CM6789', and the management information (CM6, CM7, CM8, CM9) of each partial content is the content management information CM6789. Is incorporated into. In the present embodiment, the content is not an entity but is referred to by a link.

In addition, license L6789 '(not shown) is comprised from license L6, license L7, license L8, license L9, and license management information LM6789'.

25 is a diagram for explaining a detailed example of the content management information CM6789 'and the license management information LM6789'. The content management information CM6789 'includes partial content designation format, partial content number, partial content identification information (in this embodiment, identification information of content C6, identification information of content C7, identification information of content C8, and identification information of content C9). ) And the like. In the present embodiment, since the partial content is multiplexed, "PID" is recorded in the partial content designation format of the content management information CM6789 '. In addition, 4 (content C6, content C7, content C8, content C9) are recorded in the number of partial contents, and ID_C6, ID_C7, ID_C8, ID_C9 are recorded in the ID of the partial content. For each partial content, partial content identification information and license information to be referred to are recorded. In the present embodiment, the information PID_C6 identifying the PID of the content C6 is recorded for the partial content C6 (content ID_C6). Similarly, for the partial content C7 (content ID_C7), the information PID_C7 for identifying the PID of the content C7, and for the partial content C8 (content ID_C8), the information PID_C8 for identifying the PID of the content C8 is the partial content C9 (content ID_C9). For, information PID_C9 for identifying the PID of the content C9 is recorded.

Next, license management information LM6789 'contained in license L6789' is demonstrated below.

In the present embodiment, the license L6789 'holds license information of the content C6789', but it is irrelevant how the content C6789 'is created from the partial content. Therefore, the partial content designation format is not included in the license management information LM6789 '. The license management information LM6789 'includes the number of licenses (four in this embodiment), the license ID (ID_L6, ID_L7, ID_L8, ID_L9, and license for each license ID) referenced from the content management information CM6789'. As described in Embodiment 1, an entity may be an entity or a link). In addition, as in the present embodiment, the content ID of the reference source may be recorded for each license ID, which license is each license.

By configuring as described above, it is possible to appropriately control the use of the aggregated content obtained by combining a plurality of the aggregated content.

The above-described contents and license information can be recorded independently on the recording medium. At this time, the license is preferably recorded in the secure recording area.

In the content use control apparatus of the present invention, when using a BS / CS / terrestrial digital broadcast stream as content, license information can be created from control information included in the stream when recording content from digital broadcast. In addition, a method of acquiring control information from a stream can be realized by having the same function as that of a general digital broadcast receiver. The control information includes, for example, usage conditions such as copy restriction information and age viewing restriction information, and the content usage control device of the present invention extracts the usage conditions from the control information included in the stream, and uses the usage conditions. License information can be generated based on the conditions. In addition, the content use control apparatus of the present invention can record content as well as license information. In this case, the content use control apparatus can be realized by having the same function as that of a conventional HDD-embedded digital broadcast receiver.

According to the method of using the content use control device and the content use control device of the present invention, each partial content constituting the aggregated content recorded on the recording medium or the like is appropriately used based on the license information assigned to the respective partial content. Since it becomes possible to do this, illegal use can be prevented.

In the following embodiment, a removable hard disk is used as a representative example as a recording apparatus.

Fig. 26 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a removable hard disk according to one embodiment of the present invention. In the drawing, reference numeral 20 denotes a removable hard disk (recording device), and the removable hard disk 20 is shown. ), A magnetic disk (not shown) capable of recording a plurality of licenses containing the content and the conditions for using the contents, the disk control unit 21, the write protect information 22 for controlling writing to the magnetic disk, and the magnetic disk. It basically consists of a disk read / write unit 23 which performs writing and reading, and an input / output interface 24 for freely connecting to an external device. The disk control unit 21 exchanges data with the control signal transmitted from the external device via the input / output interface 24 and controls the disk read / write unit 23 in accordance with this control signal.

When the disk control unit 21 receives a write request of content and / or license via the input / output interface 24, the disk control unit 21 refers to the write protect information 22 and, according to the write protect information 22, the content and / or Controls the writing of licenses. Note that the content to be written and the license do not have to be in one-to-one correspondence, and may be only the content or only the license. At this time, each license (or content) holds information for specifying a corresponding content (or license).

27 is a flowchart for explaining an example of a process when a write command is received as a control signal from an external device. When the disk control unit 21 shown in Fig. 26 receives the write command (step S31), the disk control unit 21 performs the write protect determination (step S32). Although the details of the write protect determination will be described separately, the disc control unit 21 makes the determination using the write protect information 22. As a result of the determination, the process branches according to whether or not it is write protected (step S33). If the write protect is not set (NO), the write operation is executed (step S34). In addition, in the above step S33, when the write protect is set (YES), the write operation is stopped (step S35).

(Embodiment 8)

As a representative example, the inside of the removable hard disk 20 is divided into a normal area for recording content, a secure area for recording a license, and the like.

In the present embodiment, video data is mainly assumed as the content. The content is encrypted and recorded to avoid unauthorized use. The license information which consists of the decryption information for using an encrypted content and the conditions of using the content cannot normally be written and read in the procedure of writing and reading the area, and is stored in a secure area with tamper resistance. . In the present embodiment, the license is composed of a reproducing license including the reproducing permission number, a duplication license indicating the number of possible duplications, and a moving license indicating the number of moveable times.

FIG. 28 is a diagram for explaining an example of the write protect information 22 according to the eighth embodiment. In the figure, "on" of the light protection state is when light protection is set, and "off" of the light protection state indicates a state in which the light protection is released. In the present embodiment, the write protect information 22 can be set independently with respect to content / reproduction license / replication license / moving license / other content usage conditions.

In addition, with regard to the reproduction license and the copy license, the write protection can be set by the number of permits. That is, when the number of times of reproduction permission is one time and other times, when the number of times of copy permission is one time and when it is other than that. Thus, when the number of permits is one, the license is used, and it is possible to avoid the number of permits being zero. For example, when a user loans a recording device to a third party with the write protect turned "on" when the number of reproduction permits is one, the third party issues a reproduction license for which the number of reproduction permits is one. Since it is not available, it is impossible to use the content. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the situation of being used until the number of reproduction permission of the reproduction license becomes zero. In this manner, the user can arbitrarily set on / off of write protect for each type of license (reproduction license, copy license, mobile license).

Regarding mobile licenses, only one recording device is considered. Since the entire license is lost due to movement regardless of the number of movements, or only movement is not permitted, the condition of write protection by the number of authorizations is given. No distinction is made.

Incidentally, the number of reproduction permission and the number of reproduction permission shown in FIG. 28 are divided into one time and another time, but not limited to one time, and the user can set an arbitrary number in consideration of the use state of the content or the like. Can be.

FIG. 29 is a flowchart for explaining an example of the write protect determination process in step S32 shown in FIG. 27. First, the disc control unit 21 of the recording device 20 determines whether the content to be written is content (step S41), and if the content to be written is content (YES), write protect information for the content. (Step S42).

In addition, in the above step S41, if the content to be written is not the content (NO), it is determined whether the content to be written is a reproduction license (step S43), and if the content to be written is the reproduction license (YES) Is determined, the current reproduction permission number is one time (step S44), and when the reproduction permission number is one time (YES), the write protect information at the one reproduction permission number is used. (Step S45). In addition, in the above step S44, when the number of permits is other than one (No), the write protect information at the time other than the number of permits is used (step S46). Also, even when the number of times of reproduction permission is one time, when the number of times of reproduction permission increases by writing, the write protect information at the number of times of reproduction permission number may be used. Similarly, regardless of the number of reproduction permission of the phenomenon, when the number of reproduction permission increases by writing, writing may be allowed.

In step S43, if the content to be written is not a reproduction license (No), it is determined whether the content to be written is a copy license (step S47), and if the content to be written is a copy license (Yes) If the current copy permission number is one (step S48), and if the copy permission number is one time (YES), the write protect information when the copy permission number is one is used. (Step S49). In addition, in the above step S48, when the number of permits is other than one (No), the write protect information when the number of permits is other than one is used (step S50). Also, even when the copy permission number is one time, when the copy permission number is increased by writing, the write protect information at the copy permission number may be used. Similarly, regardless of the number of copy permission of a phenomenon, when the number of copy permission increases by writing, writing may be allowed.

In addition, in step S47, if the content to be written is not a duplicate license (No), it is determined whether the content to be written is a mobile license (step S51), and if the content to be written is a mobile license ( If YES), the write protect information of the mobile license is used (step S52).

In addition, in the above step S51, if the content to be written is not a mobile license (No), the write protect information of other use conditions is used (step S53). By doing the above, the write-protection determination process according to content or license type can be performed.

Up to now, the method of performing the write protect control according to the already set write protect information 22 has been described. Next, the rewrite procedure of the write protect information 22 will be described. The removable hard disk 20 according to the present embodiment includes rewrite means for rewriting the write protect information 22 and reference means for referring to the write protect information 22.

As the rewriting means, the setting (rewriting) command of the write protect information and the write protect information are transmitted to the disc control unit 21 as a control signal. The disk control unit 21 rewrites and stores the write protect information 22 already recorded in the received write protect information. At this time, the write protect information is preferably stored in a nonvolatile memory or the like.

In addition, in order for the user to grasp the state of the write protect, it is preferable to make the write protect information 22 referenceable. As the reference means, the reference command of the write protect information 22 is used as a control signal, and is transmitted to the disc controller 21. The disk control unit 21 is configured to return the write protect information 22 as a result of the execution of the command. By the above configuration, the write protect information requested by the user can be arbitrarily set and referred to.

In addition, although the removable hard disk 20 (namely, magnetic disk) was demonstrated as a representative example in this embodiment, it is not limited to this. For example, the present invention can also be applied to a hard disk, a memory card, a magneto-optical disk, a rewritable DVD, and the like with built-in devices.

In addition, in the present embodiment, since the video data is mainly assumed as the content, the license is also a reproduction license / replication license / moving license, but is not limited thereto. For example, when document data is recorded as content, it is also possible to set the number of print permission etc. as a license. In this case, the write protect process for the storage medium recording the print permission number is the same as the above-described processing for the reproduction permission number.

In the present embodiment, the write protect can be set individually for the reproduction license / replication license / moving license, but the write protection information for the combination or the whole license may be set or more detailed. You may comprise so that a condition may be set.

In the present embodiment, the determination is made based on the data to be written to determine whether the write protect is on or off, but it may be determined using the type of the control command.

In the present embodiment, at the time of setting the write protect information, the write protect information is transmitted together with the control signal, but may be transmitted as data.

In addition, in the present embodiment, the disk control unit 21 performs the update unconditionally when receiving the update request of the write protect information, but may add the authentication by the password. In that case, a password storage area is provided inside the removable hard disk 20. When updating the write protect information, the disk control unit 21 also transmits and receives a password in addition to the update information.

In addition, in this embodiment, although the write-protect information was provided on the nonvolatile memory, you may comprise so that it may record in the secure area | region which records license information etc .. As shown in FIG.

(Embodiment 9)

The write protect control method in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 30 and 31 below.

In the eighth embodiment described above, the write protection is set / released in accordance with the contents of the writing. Here, an embodiment is described in which a mode is recorded as write protect information and the disc control unit 21 performs write control according to the write protect operation for each mode defined separately.

30 is a diagram for explaining an example of the write protect operation defined for each mode. In this example, there are four types of modes that can be selected by the user from 1 to 4, and the write protect operation defined for each mode is held in the disc control unit 21.

In mode 1, write protection is turned off and all writes are allowed. In mode 2, write protection is on, but only reproduction and reproduction licenses can be written. However, it is impossible to update the number of times of reproduction and the number of copies to zero. In mode 3, write protection is on, but only reproduction and reproduction licenses can be written. In mode 4, write protect is on and writing to all secure areas is prohibited. The number of modes that can be set and the definition of the write protect operation for each mode are not limited to the above, and can be arbitrarily set by the user or the like.

As described above, the mode is retained as the write protect information, and the write protect operation according to the mode information is registered in the disc controller 21, thereby enabling the write protect control intended by the user. In the present embodiment, the write protect operation according to the mode information held by the disc control unit 21 can be recorded using the expression method of the first embodiment.

FIG. 31 is a diagram showing the write protect operation defined for each mode using the method of expressing the write protect information 22 according to the eighth embodiment. In this manner, the write protect operation shown in FIG. 30 can be recorded using the expression method of the write protect information 22 according to the eighth embodiment. At this time, the contents (write protect operation for each mode information) shown in FIG. 31 are not held as the write protect information 22, but are held by the disc control unit 21 and are referred to using the mode type as a key. .

(Embodiment 10)

In the recording apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to provide a system for starting a system and a work area for a normal area. In such a case, when the write protection is applied to the normal area, the work area cannot be used, which may adversely affect the operation of the system. Therefore, in a recording apparatus in which an area for a work is taken, it is sometimes desirable to prevent the write protection from being set in the normal area.

In the IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) or ATA (AT Attachment), which is an interface for controlling a recording device such as a hard disk, two recording devices, a master and a slave, can be connected by one cable. It is common to set the master and the slave by a switch provided outside the hard disk. In addition, in a PC (Personal Computer), it is widely used that 2 x 2 = 4 recording apparatuses can be connected using two terminals (primary and secondary) inside. These controls are usually performed by a control device external to the hard disk. In the control apparatus, the write protect command may not be issued to the recording apparatus (in most cases, the primary master) used to start the system. In addition, instead of prohibiting all the write protects shown in FIG. 28 mentioned above at this time, only the normal area used for a workpiece may prohibit setting of the write protect.

Claims (44)

A content usage control device for controlling the use of content provided to a user from a provider of various contents, An input interface for inputting partial content holding license information including unique use conditions, an output interface for connecting an external recording medium, recording means for recording a content use control program for controlling the use of the content, and And a control unit which reads out and executes the content use control program from the recording means. By executing the content use control program, the control unit collects a plurality of partial contents input through the input interface to form one aggregated content, and assigns respective license information to the partial contents constituting the aggregated content. License generating means for collectively generating the respective license information of the assigned license information, The license generating means assigns a unique content ID to the partial content included in the aggregated content, and provides a unique license associated with the content ID with respect to each license information of the partial content included in the aggregated content. Give it an ID, The control unit outputs both or one of the license information generated by the license generation means and the aggregated content to the external recording medium through the recording means or the output interface by executing the content use control program. Output control means, content reproducing means for decoding and reproducing partial content included in the aggregated content recorded on the recording means or the external recording medium, and use conditions including the use of the reproduced partial content in the license information. And a usage control means for controlling the content usage control apparatus. A content usage control device for controlling the use of content provided to a user from a provider of various contents, An input interface for inputting partial content holding license information including unique use conditions, an output interface for connecting an external recording medium, recording means for recording a content use control program for controlling the use of the content, and And a control unit which reads out and executes the content use control program from the recording means. By executing the content use control program, the control unit collects a plurality of partial contents input through the input interface to form one aggregated content, and assigns respective license information to the partial contents constituting the aggregated content. License generating means for collectively generating the respective license information by allocating the assigned license information; The license generating means assigns a unique content ID to the partial content included in the aggregated content, and provides a unique license associated with the content ID with respect to each license information of the partial content included in the aggregated content. Give it an ID, The control unit outputs the license information generated by the license generating means and its aggregated content to another recording area of an external recording medium through the recording means or the output interface by executing the content use control program. Means for reproducing and reproducing the partial content included in the aggregated content recorded in the recording means or the external recording medium, and means for controlling the use of the reproduced partial content according to the use condition included in the license information. And a usage control means. The method according to claim 1 or 2, The license generating means uses first aggregated content composed of a plurality of partial contents as partial content, collects a plurality of partial contents formed from the first aggregated content, configures second aggregated content, and constitutes the second aggregated content. And assigning respective license information to the first set of contents, and generating the single license information by collectively assigning each of the allocated license information. The method according to claim 1 or 2, The input interface is connected to any one or a plurality of providers of a recording medium in which the partial content is recorded, a network including a server device capable of providing the partial content, and a digital broadcasting network capable of distributing the partial content. controller. The method according to claim 1 or 2, And wherein the aggregated content comprises video data and / or audio data, and the partial content constituting the aggregated content divides the video data and / or audio data on a time axis. The method according to claim 1 or 2, And said aggregated content is a multiplexed partial content composed of any one or a plurality of video data, audio data and data broadcasting data. The method of claim 5, And the partial content is an elementary stream (ES) of MPEG2. The method of claim 5, The partial content is any one or a plurality of streams of BS broadcast, CS broadcast, terrestrial digital broadcast. The method of claim 8, And the partial content is an ES group belonging to one component group. The method according to claim 1 or 2, The use conditions included in the license information include copy restriction information for restricting copying of partial content, age viewing restriction information for restricting viewing of partial content according to age, and usage count restriction for limiting the number of times of use of partial content. An apparatus for controlling content use, comprising one or a plurality of usage time information for limiting usage time of information and partial content. The method according to claim 1 or 2, The aggregated content is a content usage control device characterized by synthesizing a partial content composed of image data and / or document data. The method of claim 11, The usage conditions included in the license information include copy restriction information for limiting the copy of the partial content, print restriction information for limiting the printing of the partial content, expiration date information for limiting the use period of the partial content, and partial content. And one or more of resolution limit information for limiting the resolution conversion and color number limit information for limiting the number of colors of the partial content. As a content use control method of a content use control device for controlling use of content provided from a source of various contents to a user, The content use control device includes an input interface for inputting partial content holding license information including unique use conditions, an output interface for connecting an external recording medium, and a content use control program for controlling content use. Recording means having recorded thereon, and a control unit which reads and executes a content use control program from the recording means, The control unit, By executing the content usage control program, a plurality of partial contents input through the input interface are collected to form one aggregated content, each license information is assigned to the partial contents constituting the aggregated content, and the allocated Generating a single license information by collectively gathering each license information; Assigning a unique content ID to the partial content included in the aggregated content, and assigning a unique license ID associated with the content ID to each license information of the partial content included in the aggregated content; , Outputting both or one of the generated license information and the aggregated content to an external recording medium through the recording means or the output interface; Decoding and reproducing partial content included in the aggregated content recorded on the recording means or the external recording medium; And controlling the use of the reproduced partial content according to a use condition included in the license information. As a content use control method of a content use control device for controlling use of content provided from a source of various contents to a user, The content use control device includes an input interface for inputting partial content holding license information including unique use conditions, an output interface for connecting an external recording medium, and a content use control program for controlling content use. Recording means having recorded thereon, and a control unit which reads and executes a content use control program from the recording means, The control unit, By executing the content usage control program, a plurality of partial contents input through the input interface are collected to form one aggregated content, each license information is assigned to the partial contents constituting the aggregated content, and the allocated Generating a single license information by collectively gathering each license information; Assigning a unique content ID to the partial content included in the aggregated content, and assigning a unique license ID associated with the content ID to each license information of the partial content included in the aggregated content; , Outputting the generated license information and the aggregated content to another recording area of an external recording medium through the recording means or the output interface; Decoding and reproducing partial content included in the aggregated content recorded on the recording means or the external recording medium; And controlling the use of the reproduced partial content according to a use condition included in the license information. The method according to claim 13 or 14, The control unit executes the content usage control program, thereby making the first aggregated content composed of a plurality of partial contents into partial contents, collecting a plurality of partial contents formed from the first aggregated contents to form second aggregated contents, And assigning respective license information to the first aggregated content constituting the second aggregated content, and generating the single license information by collectively assigning the allocated license information. The method according to claim 13 or 14, The input interface is connected to any one or a plurality of providers of a recording medium in which the partial content is recorded, a network having a server device capable of providing the partial content, and a digital broadcasting network capable of distributing the partial content. Way. The method according to claim 13 or 14, And the aggregated content comprises video data and / or audio data, and the partial content constituting the aggregated content divides the video data and / or audio data on a time axis. The method according to claim 13 or 14, And the aggregated content is a multiplexed partial content composed of any one or a plurality of video data, audio data, and data broadcast data. The method of claim 17, And the partial content is an elementary stream (ES) of MPEG2. The method of claim 17, The partial content is any one or a plurality of streams of BS broadcast, CS broadcast, terrestrial digital broadcast. The method of claim 20, The partial content is an ES group belonging to one component group. The method according to claim 13 or 14, The use conditions included in the license information include copy restriction information for restricting copying of partial content, age viewing restriction information for restricting viewing of partial content according to age, and usage count restriction for limiting the number of times of use of partial content. A content usage control method comprising any one or a plurality of usage period information for limiting usage period of information and partial content. The method according to claim 13 or 14, The aggregated content is a content usage control method characterized by synthesizing a partial content composed of image data and / or document data. The method of claim 23, wherein The usage conditions included in the license information include copy restriction information for limiting the copy of the partial content, print restriction information for limiting the printing of the partial content, expiration date information for limiting the use period of the partial content, and partial content. And one or more of resolution limit information for limiting the resolution conversion and color number limit information for limiting the number of colors of the partial content. delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete A storage medium capable of recording a plurality of licenses including contents and usage conditions of the content, a storage area having write protect information for controlling writing to the storage medium, and a read / write unit for reading and writing to the storage medium. And an input / output interface for connecting to an external device, and a control unit for controlling the read / write unit according to control information input through the input / output interface. When the controller receives a write request of content and / or license through the input / output interface, the controller controls writing of the content and / or license in accordance with the write protect information with reference to the write protect information held in the storage area. And a recording device. The method of claim 36, And the write protect information includes write protect setting / release information of content and write protect setting / release information for each type of license. The method of claim 37, And the write protect information is provided corresponding to any one or a plurality of license types of a reproduction license for limiting the number of times of reproduction, a copy license for limiting the number of times of reproduction, a mobile license for limiting the number of times of movement, and a plurality of license types. The method of claim 38, The write protect information includes a write protect state when the reproduction permission count is one time, a write protect state when the reproduction permission count is other than one time, a write protect state when the copy permission count is one time, and one copy permission count. A recording apparatus, characterized in that any one or more of the write protect state when the device is in a different state and the write protect state for movement can be specified. The method of claim 36, And the write protect information comprises mode information, and the control unit performs write protect control according to the mode information. The method of claim 40, The write protect operation for each mode information is defined by the write protect setting / release information of the content and the write protect setting / release information for each type of license. The method of claim 36, And the recording apparatus includes rewriting means for rewriting write protection information recorded in the storage area, and reference means for referring to the write protection information recorded in the storage area. 43. A control device for controlling a plurality of recording devices according to any one of claims 36 to 42. And the write protect information is not set for the specific recording device. A storage medium capable of recording a plurality of licenses including contents and usage conditions of the content, a storage area having write protect information for controlling writing to the storage medium, and a read / write unit for reading and writing to the storage medium. And a control unit for controlling the read / write unit in accordance with control information input through the input / output interface and an input / output interface for connecting to an external device. When the control unit receives a write request for content and / or license through the input / output interface, the control unit writes and controls the content and / or license in accordance with the write protect information with reference to the write protect information held in the storage area. The recording method of the recording apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned.

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